Dark-Dark Fruit

East Blue, Moss Town. Deep within Yarl Forest...

Dawn had barely broken, yet the residents of Moss Town had already begun their work.

Before a tall green juniper tree, Mark stood like an iron tower.

Though he was not yet sixteen, he had already grown over two meters tall.

His face was bronze-colored, with thick sword-like brows. His large eyes and straight nose gave him a heroic air. The muscles on his arms were like bundled steel rods as he gripped a massive axe nearly as tall as himself. Its single blade was enormous, shaped like a crescent moon.

Its edge gleamed with deadly sharpness!

He wore black trousers and an orange jacket, while the bronze muscles of his bare upper body gleamed with beads of sweat.

Mark gripped the huge axe and brought it down with all his strength.

Crack!

The juniper tree, as thick as an adult's waist, broke at once. Mark showed a pleased smile.

"This tree should be enough to keep old Jaba supplied for a while..."

He swung his axe, chopping the trunk into uneven pieces of timber as tall as a man.

Suddenly, Mark froze in place, staring blankly at the purple, head-sized object in his hand...

"Is this... a Devil Fruit?"

While cutting apart the juniper tree just now, he had felt around among its green leaves and found this thing.

From his usual chats with Jaba and Daisy, he had learned of some strange things from the sea. The purple fruit in his hand closely resembled the Devil Fruits Jaba had described, identical to the Devil Fruits from the anime in his previous life.

But this was his first time seeing one of the sea's great treasures, so Mark was momentarily stunned.

Just as he stared at the Devil Fruit in a daze, a somewhat shrill voice rang out behind him.

"Hey, brat, put down what you're holding!"

Mark came back to his senses and looked toward the voice. A lean, lanky man standing around two and a half meters tall, with a scar across his face and a rather wretched appearance, was jogging toward him.

The man's gaze was fixed on the purple fruit in Mark's hand, his eyes brimming with greed.

Mark merely glanced at him.

Then, without hesitation, Mark took a bite and swallowed the purple fruit. His face immediately twisted into an ugly expression.

When the man saw this, his eyes widened in utter disbelief as he shouted, "No!!!"

"You damned brat! How could someone like you deserve to eat something so precious? How could you?! Spit it out! Spit it out!"

The man screamed hysterically, drew the long blade at his waist, and chopped down hard at Mark's head.

He wanted to kill the brat before him. If the Devil Fruit had fallen into his hands, he could have sold it for an enormous sum.

But it was gone. Everything was gone. That brat had eaten it all.

The slash carried a streak of madness. Though he was no swordsman, he still swung his blade with a piercing whistle through the air.

Rip!

The sharp edge tore through the air!

A fountain of blood burst forth, and a large head rolled across the ground.

With a clang, something heavy hit the ground. Mark, his face twisted in pain, planted the bloodstained axe into the green earth.

"Cough, cough... Devil Fruits really do taste awful. This flavor is just... ugh!!!"

Mark had no idea how to describe it. It tasted like rotten socks, a swill bucket, laundry detergent, stinky tofu, canned herring, and all sorts of other bizarre things.

That combination of flavors disgusted Mark beyond belief. He was now certain that even what was in a toilet had to taste better than a Devil Fruit, though he had never eaten it...

After painfully swallowing the entire Devil Fruit, Mark let out a long breath. If I only take one bite, what if I don't get the full ability? After all, a normal person only gets one chance.

"Even though I've been in this world for more than ten years, this is still the first time I've seen something as magical as a Devil Fruit. I wonder what ability it has..."

He raised a foot and kicked away the bloody, headless corpse, then carefully sensed the changes within his body.

But before he could feel any changes, an unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

"Combat Bracer binding successful. Host: Rhodes Mark..."

A violent surge of energy suddenly erupted from Mark's left wrist, invading his brain through his left arm. A wave of dizziness immediately followed.

With a thud, Mark collapsed unconscious onto the ground.

Inside the Oak Craft General Store of Moss Town.

"Kid, you're awake!" An elderly yet deep and powerful voice rang beside Mark's ear.

Mark turned toward the voice. A bald, elderly man wearing sunglasses stood beside his bed, black tattoos covering his face. Though the man wore sunglasses, Mark could still feel his concern.

"Jaba..." Mark slowly sat up in bed, rubbing his groggy head. "What happened to me?"

Jaba put his pipe to his mouth, slowly took a puff, and said, "You little punk, don't tell me you've forgotten what happened in Yarl Forest?"

Yarl Forest? Mark's mind was still muddled, and his memories were in disarray.

But after resting for a moment, his mind gradually cleared, and a series of memories suddenly flashed through his head.

Only then did he remember what had happened deep in Yarl Forest.

He had found a Devil Fruit and eaten it, then killed someone, and after that he had fallen unconscious. Before passing out, a strange voice seemed to have appeared in his mind...

Wait!

He suddenly felt something strange on his left wrist. Looking down, he saw an extra violet tattoo there, as though it were coiled around his wrist.

When his gaze met the violet tattoo, an energy bar suddenly flashed before his eyes.

The energy bar was yellow, with a single ☆ slowly floating within it.

Why did this look so familiar...

The strange voice from before he had fainted suddenly flashed through Mark's mind. Combat Bracer binding successful...

"Wasn't that thing the trigger that sent me to this world?" Mark thought to himself.

His memories returned to his previous life...

Back then, he had been a fitness coach. His daily work was not easy, and his salary was not high, but with no girlfriend and no mortgage to worry about, he had lived quite happily.

He liked playing games, especially a fighting mobile game called Oath Power.

There were ten strongest pieces of equipment in that game, and the one ranked eighth was called the Combat Bracer.

It was a divine artifact for masters of hand-to-hand combat. It could help fighters grow quickly and possessed the ability to enhance one's physique through grinding monsters, making it deeply beloved by martial artists.

And Mark had chosen a fighter back then, following the path of hand-to-hand combat.

So, to obtain that equipment, he had grinded monsters for three days and three nights straight, even skipping work to play games.

At last, in the final moment, it dropped.

With a flash, golden light gleamed. The unique effects of an epic divine artifact and the four words "Combat Bracer" made Mark so excited that he could barely breathe.

"It dropped! It finally dropped!!!"

Mark shouted. In the middle of the night, even his neighbor, who had been desperately practicing riding by slamming against the wall, was startled stiff and made no sound for quite some time.

Mark had headphones on and knew nothing of it. After his excitement subsided, he hurriedly picked up the Combat Bracer. But the moment he did, he felt a tingling sensation, and then everything before him went black... After that, he knew nothing.

When he woke up again, he had arrived in a new world, a world called One Piece.

The memories ended. Mark stared excitedly at the flashing yellow energy bar before him.

Jaba looked at him strangely.

"Kid, did something traumatize you?"

Hearing that, Mark withdrew his excited gaze and turned to Jaba. "I'm fine. I suddenly realized the materials I brought back weren't enough. I'll go get you some more!"

With that, Mark turned, leaped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed his huge axe from the corner, and ran full speed toward Yarl Forest.

"That kid..." Jaba was completely baffled.